


Free

by StarvingMe



Series: Inqed Words [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Ice Skating, angel unwinds a bit, flare of grace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 17:38:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4634250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarvingMe/pseuds/StarvingMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wordsmith finds the Inquisitor one day and trails her for a bit to see what angels are up to in their free-time.  (Before Inquisitor loses her grace)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Free

“If you don’t give your heart wings,  
you’ll never never never ever fly!”

~ _Never_  by Moving Pictures

Wordsmith groaned softly as she realized her contact wasn’t going to show.  Kicking a rock, she scowled at the gravel underfoot, letting out an agitated sigh.  This was really the worst possible time of day to schedule anything—almost worse than being forced to stand in the rain.  It was beastly hot, the sun beating down on her and baking her in her suit.  Surely, this was payback for trying to take a day off at some point.  Grumbling to herself, she gave the contact another minute before turning away.  Not far away, there were some benches in the shade and a stand selling snowcones—she could go for something cool as a reward for putting up with this shitty assignment…

Shortly after, she was sitting on a bench, tie loosened, the top two buttons of her shirt undone, and her jacket beside her on the bench as she watched the people that slunk by.  The late afternoon heat seemed to affect only a few people, as there were plenty of sweating joggers and dogwalkers still around.  She looked up as a school bus filled with kids drove past, pushing another spoonful of her cold treat into her mouth when something caught her eye.  Leaning over to peer between the trees, she squinted behind her dark sunglasses to try to make out the flash of silver again.

Red eyes widened a little as she spotted a very familiar angel, jogging towards a large brick building off to the side.  It wasn’t unusual that she was seeing the Inquisitor out and about—it seemed she was everywhere these days—but it was a curious sight to find her running around in leggings of all things, with a small gym bag strapped to her back.  She remained where she was for a few moments, pondering if she should find out what the angel was up to, or if she should stay out of it.

Smiling, she got up to cross the lawn and duck into the building.

The first thing she noticed was that the lighting was quite dim inside—and then the wall of icy cool air hit her and she almost shivered, eyes drifting blissfully closed.  For a moment, she mused that she had just followed the Inquisitor straight into Heaven, for nowhere else could there be such an exquisite delight, but she jerked back to the present when she heard a voice calling out to her.

“Hey!  You can’t eat that in here!  If you’re going to skate, you’ll have to toss that.”

Frowning at the man, she looked from her half-finished shaved ice to the man, pausing for a moment to quickly swig the watery sweetness from the cup before tossing it into the bin by the door.  Making her way up to the counter, she looked over the items peeking out of the cubbies, the row of lockers on the far wall, the stack of hockey pucks on the desk, and smiled a little to herself.  An ice rink.  Clever Inquisitor, beating the heat somewhere ice cold.  Looking at the man, she frowned a little, glancing up at the rental prices.  She didn’t quite fancy falling on her face or backside for the sake of cooling off, so maybe… “I think I’ll just watch for now…”

He jerked his thumb at the door labeled ‘Observation deck’ as he went back to spraying skates and sharpening blades.  Without another word, she made her way over, curious to see what was going on below.

* * *

The Inquisitor stretched slowly, making sure that her laces were secured tightly and tucked away.  She had pulled out the light sweater from her gym bag, tugging it on over her tanktop and letting it fall loosely over her shoulders.  Getting up from the bench, she made her way carefully towards the opening in the partition that separated the seating area from the rink.  The ice was almost deserted this time of day, a fact she was grateful for as she glanced around.  

At the start of the next song blaring over the PA, she pushed herself out onto the ice.  She spent a few minutes warming up, practicing speeding up and slowing down for several lazy laps around the rink before she let herself be carried away by the music.  She wasn’t the most graceful, but she was definitely enjoying herself.  Her first spin was successful, landing a little shakily, but she didn’t fall. She was grinning so hard, looking around for a moment before shyly lowering her head again, trying to wipe the ecstatic look off her face.  She completed several more turns before she tried again, gaining more momentum and landing more solidly.  That time, a couple of small children applauded, her cheeks turning a soft shade of red as she made another lap.

Leaning against the window, red eyes watched as the Inquisitor took another sharp turn, circling the rink, almost bouncing on her skates as she practically dances across the ice.  Wordsmith couldn’t quite put her finger on why it had actually surprised her to find out that the angel liked to do  _normal_  things—well, as normal as ice skating could be—to unwind, but it was intriguing to watch.  As she geared up for another jump, the Inquisitor looked almost…

_…free._

Her movements were as graceful and practiced as if she’d been doing it for years, kicking off the ice to spin in the air as her heart soared, joy flooding her as her heart beat against her ribs, eyes falling closed as she felt light pouring through her.  For a moment, the soft woosh of wings filled the air before the flare of grace rose to a blinding crescendo as she landed on the ice, knocked off her feet as every bulb in the rink blew out at once, plunging them all into darkness.  

Wordsmith jumped, stunned and almost certain that the sight of the Inquisitor’s widespread wings had been burned into her retinas and that the only thing that had saved her meatsuit’s sight was the dark sunglasses. Blinking, she rubbed her eyes as she struggled to blink away the spots before her eyes.  

As the emergency lights came on, she looked down, frowning as she counted the people slowly making their way off the ice.  Seven, eigh, nine…  Her frown deepened when she realized a certain angel wasn’t among them, and was nowhere on the ice.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“What do you think you were doing?” Galahad snapped, gripping her arm hard as he pulled her down the hallway, ignoring the way her skates slipped and skittered along the way.  “You risked exposing yourself and costing those innocents their lives!”

“I-I’m sorry!” she cried, waving her hand, her skates replaced with her comfortable flats as she followed obediently.  “Please, Galahad, I just-”

“You were late!” he snapped, hand tightening around her arm as he stopped to frown down at her.  “You’re lucky I went looking for you.  I should’ve listened, you’re just not ready for this…”

“No, wait!” she started, placing a shaking hand over his as she looked up at him.  “Please, sir… I… It’ll never happen again… I swear… I… I just wanted to try it… I’m good now… Please…” She held her breath, looking pleadingly up at him.  

He held onto his sour expression for several minutes before he sighed deeply, slowly releasing her arm again.  “All right…  Fine… But this is your final warning…  You’re to  _observe_  and  _report_. You needn’t  _experience_.”

Nodding at that, she gingerly rubbed her arm, bowing her head.  “Yes sir… I promise…  Observe and report…”


End file.
